


Roads Diverged

by Sanjuno



Category: Naruto
Genre: AU!Kakashi was the only one to survive the battle against Kaguya, Abusing Sharingan Abilities for Fun and Profit, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, F/F, F/M, Good Uchiha Obito, Hatake Clan Bloodline Talent, Hatake Kakashi is a Troll, How to Cheat Death and Save the World the Hatake Kakashi way, Kamui as a plot device, M/M, Multi, Ninken | Ninja Dogs, Ninshu Philosophy, Nohara Rin Lives, Then Obito tossed Kakashi through a Kamui portal, Time Travel Fix-It, Uchiha Obito Lives
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-05
Updated: 2017-09-30
Packaged: 2018-12-11 13:50:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11715669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sanjuno/pseuds/Sanjuno
Summary: In a World where Akatsuki succeeded in their task...In a World where Team Seven died, separated and alone...In a World where Hatake Kakashi was the last one left standing after the destruction of Konoha...The battle against Kaguya goes badly, to say the least.Escaping into Kamui, wounded and dying, Kakashi and Obito have just enough time for one last conversation. One last chance to clear the air and make peace. Hatake Kakashi was ready to rest, to finally reunite with those that he had mourned and missed for so many years. Uchiha Obito, however, had already proven himself unable to let such fates as theirs pass by uncontested.For his part, Hatake Kakashi wasnot pleasedto be waking up twelve years old again,damn you, Obito!





	1. Where the Path Divides

**Author's Note:**

> So. I have this _thing_ for dumping a mostly canon character into an AU version of their world and watching them have hysteric breakdowns. And also for watching the AU characters go 'wut?' because the fresh hell that is canon tends to produce such _beautifully_ broken overpowered monsters and the idea of Happy Sparkles Land dealing with " _Everyone I Love Is Dead_ " Kakashi is 100% my idea of a Good Time because Kakashi is So Done and has negative zero shits left to give at this point.

=/=

**(All classical romances end in death.)**

"Ne, Obito... this is okay, isn't it?" Kakashi slumped to his knees, gathering his old teammate's body into his arms and ignoring the blood that pooled out around them. "We can die together and... maybe we can be happily together with everyone again."

"... Kakashi... don't you... hate me?" Obito's mismatched eyes struggled to focus... and went wide as Kakashi tugged his mask down to press bare lips against the Uchiha's bloody brow.

"Never... I could never hate you, Obito-baka. You've always been... the best part of me." Kakashi swayed, vision blurring as blood loss and chakra exhaustion took their toll, but the copy-ninja found the strength to smile. "M'glad... I get to be here with you... one last time."

"Kakashi, you... idiot." Obito's arms guided the other ninja down, and they lay tangled together on the bare expanse of what passed for the ground in the Kamui dimension. "How long... have you loved me?"

"Mmm... can't remember." Kakashi pressed his exposed face against Obito's neck, tracking the staggering beats of a faltering heart. They were both dying, here at the end... their battle against Kaguya had ended in a draw. "Always, maybe... A long time, anyway."

"No wonder... you were such a bastard... when we were kids." Obito closed his eyes and fought to keep breathing around the knife-sharp pains of his regrets. He tried to ignore how cold Kakashi's skin was growing under his hands. "... I don't think... I can let you do this..."

"Obito..." Kakashi's breath was still warm against the chill skin of Obito's throat. "I refuse... to leave you behind again. Never again. I... refuse to be... the last one... left behind... again..."

"Kakashi, please... don't. Not for me... I don't..." Obito fought the weakness in his limbs in order to curl around Kakashi. Panic surged up at the limp way the Copy-cat ninja allowed himself to be moved. The tears came unimpeded. "Idiot. I died for you before... so what makes you think... that you're allowed to die _now_... you bastard..."

"Obito..." Kakashi looked into the scarred Uchiha's eyes as the last of his strength began to fade and wanted to weep himself. That light in dark eyes was _Obito_ ( _Kakashi’s_ Obito) that crazy, determined, cry-baby teammate who taught Kakashi how to care again. Kakashi had the true Obito back, even if it was only for a little bit. "Ah, Obito... you were the last one I had left... You killed the others. Please just... let me join them..."

Obito's eyes went wide and wounded and _crazed_ as he understood what Kakashi was asking, and he clutched the other man close with a savage hiss. " _NO._ "

Kakashi closed his eyes in resignation as seals lit up the shadows of Kamui, Sharingan red and black spinning in endless intersecting circles.

"Ah." Sasuke stood over the entwined shinobi, flanked by Naruto and Sakura. All three of them smiled down at their sensei. "I had a feeling something like this would happen."

"This stupid zombie jutsu thing is _so_ cheating." Naruto grumbled, frowning at his teammate and wrinkling his nose. "Typical Uchiha bastard."

"Tch." Death seemed to have mellowed Sasuke some. Instead of losing his temper, the nuke-nin just raised one brow at the former jinchuriki. "You _do_ know that Tobirama of the _Senju_ came up with this jutsu, dobe?"

"Ignore the boys, sensei." Sakura smiled cheerfully, hands glowing green as she reached out for Obito's face. "Just trust us, please... one last time?"

His eyes burned, and Kakashi fought the tears back. He needed his sight to remain clear. He needed to be able to see this, to see his precious students whole and strong and standing together. It was so nice of Obito to bring them here. Kakashi had missed them, ungrateful brats that they were. Kakashi smiled and laced his fingers through Obito's. He would be able to greet Shinigami with a smile, now. "Aa. Go ahead."

The world around him fractured _green and red and blue and gold and black and white_ and Hatake Kakashi opened his eyes.

/…/

**(A single degree of difference is sometimes all it takes to save a life.)**

The view flickered like a novice genin level genjutsu as Kakashi stared ahead and watched with dull eyes as the scenery shifted and changed. There was no way of telling how long he had been watching. A minute, an eternity... it all amounted to the same thing. He was alone, and his precious people were dead.

( _There was a boy who loved a girl who loved a different boy who paid the first boy more attention than anyone else. There was a mission to a bridge and a cave that crumbled and an eye for an eye gifted in an exchange of promises written in blood and tears and unspoken words. There was a vow made in grief and another mission another mission another mission gone wrong and a crying girl who knew that it was her duty to die but lacked the strength to end her own life. There was a request and an ambush and an escape and a promise broken unwillingly with light and the singing cry of a thousand birds._ )

The shinobi watching the events unfurl closed his eyes with a sigh. It was always the same. In every world Kakashi had born witness too, Kaguya's machinations always...

( _There was a scream and a twist and lightning turned aside with a desperate yank of will and the focused determination that **this will not be**. The ambush was ambushed and puppet strings began to fray as the girl stood up and stood over the broken body of the boy who would rather die than break the vow sworn to a dying comrade. She stood over the boy she had wanted to die at the hands of and faced the enemy forces ranged against them, determined to save their lives. Demon chakra welled up in defense of an unwilling host, forced into compliance by a stubbornly compassionate heart and a will of fire._ )

Kakashi blinked and looked on in confusion. That… that was not the way the story had gone all the other times before.

( _There was a boy who loved a girl so much he denied death and crawled out of hell to save her. So he swept her up and opened a path to safety with a laugh about being the hero... only to be betrayed by the creature keeping him alive. The parasite mocked them as the boy stumbled and blood flew, red on white as a limp body hung on sharpened wood. The girl screamed and the demon locked inside her raged and the boy’s eyes burned like stars falling from the void into yomi. The boy held the girl he had sworn to love forever as his rival-friend was dumped to the ground like lifeless meat and anger-pain-denial filled him until he shook with it. A gate rent the air and the boy moved to rescue those he loved and escape and the parasite attacked once more. The gate fractured out of the boy’s control and the other boy was left behind. The boy who loved made it home with the girl who was the demon’s cage and used all his stolen powers to keep her alive long enough for their teacher to seal the demon forced on the girl away properly. The boy was felled by his own exhaustion and slept for ten days and ten nights._ )

Kakashi tilted his head in consideration. This was... this was new. New and unexpected and _interesting_. If Kakashi had just managed to see Rin's jump in time... if Obito had arrived while Rin was still alive... if Obito had been given a reason to come back, to come _home_ , then... Rin, Sensei, Kushina, _everyone_ , they...

( _The second boy saw the girl and the boy who loved her disappear into the air and he lunged for their surprised enemies. Blood poured forth in rapid streams and the boy knew he would have to be fast. The puppets fell without strings and the white creature turned on the boy with a grin like a bone graveyard. By the time the boy's allies arrived the boy had been dragged away to a place far from his forest home. Hidden away in a cage the sun could not touch the boy became a plaything for hungry ghosts and angry monsters._ )

Oh! This was _very_ different... no, this was _much better_. Kakashi could see how switching places with Obito changed _everything_. Kushina lived because there was no one capable of breaking through Minato's seals without Kamui, and Kyuubi was never freed. Naruto had both of his parents there as he grew up, and the identity of the Kyuubi jinchuriki stayed a secret. There was nothing Danzo could use to plausibly ostracize the Uchiha, so the Uchiha elders had no reason to plan a coup, and therefore there was no massacre! Sasuke would stay with Konoha and never stray down the avenger’s path of blood. His precious comrades, his adorable little students, his beloved team... they would all live happier lives.

... Kakashi only wished he could see it for real.

The world fractured _gold and red and white and green and black and blue_ and Hatake Kakashi opened his eyes.

/…/

**(Kakashi has hung out with enough drunk Yamanaka to have picked up some tricks.)**

The mindscape was a wasteland, ravaged and barren. Sullen clouds of thick smoke hung low over the skeletal remains of charred-black trees. Ash hung in the air and embers threatened to burn exposed skin. Blood was splattered over everything, dripping down surfaces to pool on the ground. Kakashi looked down at the small body he had lifted from the wreckage. ( _Had he really ever been this small?_ ) The boy was gutted, face grey and bloodless as he hung limp in Kakashi's arms. With a shiver of unease Kakashi turned away from the complete devastation of the soul. ( _He had to find the child a safer place to rest_ …)

The copycat ninja sank into the ground with his grisly burden. On the other side of their soul was a small glade with a burbling brook of clear water running through the nearby forest. Tall, stately trees guarded the glade and butterflies danced around blooming flowers. A cold fire-pit was nearby, a shinobi field-pack leaning against a long bench. A litter of newborn puppies were sleeping on a soft blanket, and Kakashi smiled as he lay the boy down next to them. White hair was an uncanny match to shiba-inu fur, and it eased away the sting of guilt under his breastbone to see them resting peacefully.

"You'll be safe here." Kakashi whispered the promise over the unnaturally still child and turned away. "I'll take care of everything now."

Back up through the dark ocean of a midnight sky. Back up through black clouds and a bloody moon. Back up to the waking world. Kakashi's body was much younger than he remembered it being, and he had never before been more thankful that becoming an active shinobi at age four had delayed the onset of puberty. He had thought himself so mature, back when he was _actually_ twelve, but now… Twist the chakra coil _here_ and speed up the flow _there_ and pin-pon. Now there was no way for Orochimaru to breed any Hatake specimens for the snake's kekkai genkai experiments. Just in case.

( _Kakashi was the only non-Uchiha to ever be able to use the Sharingan to it’s full potential with only his natural abilities. Both Madara and Orochimaru had expressed interest in that. Even Danzo had needed the enhanced regeneration grated by his Hashirama cells to use the full power of Shisui’s eye._ )

Kakashi was still imagining the prissy look on Danzo's face when the backlash from forcibly altering his own chakra coils wrenched him away from reality.

The world fractured _blue and white and red and black and green and gold_ and Hatake Kakashi opened his eyes.

=/=


	2. Forge your own path.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A heart can break in many ways. Through neglect. Through abandonment. Through violence. Through boredom. Through theft. But the worst way of all...
> 
> Is when a hearts breaks of loss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So it's Kakashi's turn to haunt Obito now.
> 
> ... Have fun with that I guess? *stares blankly at the transparent ninja* This is going to go so badly, I just know it...

=/=

**(Tragedy starts when you break something beautiful and call it art.)**

Ally in his target _pull the blow_! Something wrenched in his chest, tore in his shoulder. The backlash of ungrounded lightning chakra ripped through the Tenketsu in his arm.

The mud was bitterly cold, but it did nothing the ease the electrical burns. Muscles clenched, shuddered, spasms stealing away the control of his limbs.

… Oh good. Rin was still fighting. That… that was good…

“Sorry I’m late!” Wonderful, just what he needed. Hallucinations.

“Obito!” … Oh. _Oh_. Rin saw him _too_. Maybe not a hallucination then?

“You know the hero always shows up just in time!” … Still an idiot. “Now come on, let’s go home!”

“Sorry, kid.” That voice. That voice was… there was something _wrong_ with it. “Can’t let you do that.”

Enemy incoming _there_ Obito and Rin _behind_ leverage plus momentum twist up and _shove_.

**PAIN _._**

“ _Kakashi_!” Blood fell from his mouth, and he could not draw in air to breathe. Near a dozen branches had speared through his body, unnaturally white and smooth.

“Idiot human.” The branches pulled back, pulled _out_. Dumping him back to the ground.

Pain wiped out the world.

Just for a moment. Just long enough for Obito to do _something_ , some knockoff version of the Hiraishin that used a swirling vortex instead of seals. Must have been how Obito escaped from… whoever had him. More Kiri-nin, maybe?

Oh, Rin looked… bad. They needed to get her to Minato-sensei before…

“No! Kakashi!” Well, goodbye again, Obito. Looks like it was his turn to be the one left behind. The portal closed behind Rin and Obito, and an inhuman voice snarled in frustration.

Kakashi grinned, blood in his teeth. Tanto in hand, he went for the enemies throat.

/…/

Everything hurt.

The genjutsu torture was bad, and he was too weak to fight it off. His voice had given out hoursdaysweeks ago. Time passed strangely. There was no natural light in the cave. Just darkness, and the ever-present scent of rotting fruit. He always knew when the genjutsu activated because it was the only time he _saw_ anything.

The smell of decay never left.

As bad as the torture was, the… the _creature_ that tended to him was the worst. Unnatural. Unnerving. Even the way it smelled was _wrong_. Like bones and graveyard dirt and moss. The roots it controlled dug into his flesh, crawled under his skin. It _hurt_. It was _vile_.

Kakashi just wanted to get _away_.

The world fractured, _gold and black and green and blue and red and white_ , and Hatake Kakashi opened his eyes.

/…/

“Hey, kid.” An older version of himself sighed, and motioned to the roots dug into his guts. “Want some help with that?”

Blood in his teeth, he met his own eyes and grinned. Nodded in agreement. Who cared if this was a dream or an illusion, he wanted out. “Yes.”

The world fractured, _white and gold and red and blue and green and black_ , and Hatake Kakashi opened his eyes.

/…/

Hm. _Not_ the Mountain’s Graveyard anymore. There was light enough to see by now. So where…

Ah. Orochimaru. Well then. Time to start planning a daring escape.

/…/

**(The truth of the matter is that the physical body has limits. The soul is what transcends those limits.)**

Obito had healed well. Kakashi was pleased to note that the Konoha medic-nin had done a better job of healing Obito's scars than Madara had. It looked like being in Konoha was easing the more delicate issues from the damage that had lingered in the other life. With a mission-ready body in addition to Mokuton and Makengyou, Obito may very well achieve his dream of becoming Hokage this time. Ghost-quiet, Kakashi moved closer to the sleeping Uchiha. Greedy eyes fastened onto twisting scars, the one permanent sign that Obito had once cared enough to save Kakashi's life. Even if Obito married Rin, took students, had children, joined ANBU... those scars would always be there. Half of Obito's body carried Kakashi's mark, and it satisfied a primal need that Kakashi rarely acknowledged. The empty, left eye socket made Kakashi frown, and gentle fingers drifted over the sleeping ninja's face.

( _"Here, sensei." Sakura's smile was brilliant and fierce and it was like she had forgotten about the fact that the man who had torn open her throat and ripped her heart from her chest was lying at her feet. "One Eternal Makengyou Sharingan for you... and a little something extra to combat the chakra drain."_ )

From the pouch where he used to keep his Icha Icha books, Kakashi pulled out two glowing orbs. They thrummed with chakra against his fingers, wrapped in blood-inked seals. Kakashi swallowed hard and debated crushing them in his grip.

( _"It's ironic." Sasuke rolled the orbs in his hands, red eyes contemplative. Kakashi remembered empty eye sockets and bloody fingers and the flash of a blade severing head from body. The last Uchiha of Konoha smiled, only a little bitter. "You used the kekkai genkai of the Uchiha clan so often that you never bothered to activate your own. The Hatake clan's bloodline... I look forward to seeing what you do with it."_ )

One swirl of red and black to complete the unfinished Makengyou that had started forming when Obito had seen the younger Kakashi’s body fall to the ground after being speared through by the Zetsu clone.

( _Guilt and rage and betrayal, the recipe to bring forth the Uchiha Clan’s greatest curse greatest power but Rin never died, so Obito never fully activated the next level of his eyes… yet Kakashi had seen her body fall and the light leave her smile... they each had half of a pair, and Kakashi needed Obito to be strong enough to survive what was coming even though he knew he knew he knew that seeing Kakashi broken and bleeding and fallen would never ever never be enough to compete with Rin’s memory._ )

One storm of white and silver to fill a hole he had never meant to leave behind. The seals flared to blue and green life as Kakashi pushed the orbs into place. Both of Obito's eyes opened wide as the first scream ripped from his throat, even as Kakashi’s other hand darted forward in an odd parody of his Chidori attack to wrench the puppet-seal on Obito’s heart away as the sudden shockwave bursting in the Uchiha’s chakra system loosened the hold the seal had on Obito’s core.

( _"Tell you what, Kakashi-sensei..." Naruto wrapped Kakashi's fingers around glowing chakra, vulpine grin as bright in death as it had ever been in life. The blond had been gutted, everything from ribs to pelvis ripped out with the fox. Naruto tapped the side of his nose, black sclera doing nothing to dampen the way his blue eyes danced with wicked glee. "Make sure you teach us lots of super-cool jutsu next time, and we'll call it even, ne? We'll be even more awesome then, dattebayo!"_ )

Obito glowed to Kakashi’s sight, free of the poisonous, insidious seals that had trapped Obito into a spiraling madness in the other world. Kakashi let himself fade away as the first ANBU burst through the door. Good, Obito would be taken care of now and Kakashi would not need to worry about being detected. With a sigh, the copy-nin let his chakra disperse. It had been nice to see Obito again.

The world fractured _white and blue and red and black and green and gold_ and Hatake Kakashi opened his eyes.

/…/

**(There are no words more painful to the human heart than when we say; “If only I had…”)**

It was three in the morning (the witching hour, the ghost watch) and Namikaze Minato, Yondaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato was ready to murder a medic-nin for a straight answer. He could remember the gut wrenching sorrow of losing his student, of losing _Obito_ (and Kakashi, gods, Kakashi who was still missing and gone and Minato was _not_ going to call off the search until they _found him_ ) and the horror that had filled him when he saw what had been done to the young Uchiha chunin. Laughing, determined Obito now scarred and _changed_ in a way no one understood. His poor Kakashi, still wounded all these years later by Sakumo's suicide and Obito’s loss and now taken prisoner by an unknown enemy. Rin... sweet, gentle Rin now host to the Sanbi and terrified of being turned into a weapon against her village. (Or worse, being handed back over to the Bloody Mist because of the Elder Council’s _goddamned politics_. Minato would execute them all himself if they even _dared_ to bring the idea up.)

Thank the gods Obito was still under medical monitoring for the limb grafts in addition to being under ANBU guard until T&I could clear him. Otherwise who knows how long it would have been before someone found him in the morning.

Heart numb, Minato once again stood next to Obito's hospital bed as the medic-nin spoke in a low voice. "As far as we can tell, Hokage-sama, Uchiha Obito-san has... spontaneously generated a new eye. However, there was chakra residue from both medical jutsu and seals detected on both the new left ocular organ as well as the original right. As it stands we have been unable to match the foreign chakra signatures to anyone or anything on record. The technique is unknown. The perpetrators are unknown. From the preliminary analysis I would say that we're looking at anywhere from two to five intermingled signatures. Uchiha-san's chakra pattern was used as the core, which leads me to suspect that was the method by which they ensured that the new growth was accepted by the rest of the body. It is possible, and even likely, that the eye was implanted prior to Uchiha Obito’s escape and something in the care he received here in Konoha triggered the growth. As it stands, Uchiha-san appears healthy aside from the headache and some light sensitivity despite the stresses placed on his body over the last several months. "

"Some, he says." Obito grumbled, nostalgic orange goggles planted firmly over squinting eyes.

"Thank you. Please ensure that a copy of the complete report is forwarded to my desk." Minato nodded as the medic bowed and left the room. Student and teacher examined each other for a long moment before Minato sighed and sat in the visitor's chair. "I don't suppose you know how this happened? Or have any idea who did it?"

"Sorry, Sensei." Obito shoved himself up into a sitting position with a wince as his right arm trembled. "I was asleep, and then my head was cracking open. I didn't see a damned thing. Except..."

Minato frowned at Obito's hesitance. The boy looked haunted by far more than simply pain. Minato laid a supportive hand on Obito's knee and tried to summon up a smile. "Go on, Obito. You didn't see anyone… except?"

"I thought..." Obito swallowed hard, eyes closed behind his goggles as he tried to recreate the scene. He had woken screaming, and in pain, both eye sockets on _fire_ and leaking a horrible combination of tears and blood as his heart _twisted_ in his chest like someone had stabbed him. The room had been empty but then out of the corner of his eye... a blurred figure. "I thought I saw Kakashi... but he was too old and the ANBU went right through him without reacting. I figured I was either hallucinating or that whoever actually planted my new eye was fucking with me."

"... So it seems." Minato closed his own eyes against the wave of guilt and pain that Kakashi's name called up. The Hokage stood and rubbed a hand through his student's hair with a comforting smile. "Get some rest, Obito. We'll start the investigation in the morning."

/…/

**(Because one is the loneliest number, and without you I’m alone in the crowd.)**

Uchiha Obito slumped against the windowsill of his bedroom, staring out at the silent streets of the Uchiha Complex. Things had changed a great deal between Obito being declared KIA and his return to Konoha with Rin. One of his many cousins had taken over Obito’s old home, fixing it up in anticipation of his upcoming marriage.

Obito did not really mind that, since it turned out that Kakashi had boxed up all of Obito’s personal effects and stored them in the Hatake Clan house. Even if Obito did not have a place of his own to live yet, he still had all of his stuff. Being in rightful possession of Obito’s eye and dying wish had apparently led to Kakashi being treated like Obito’s widow by a significant portion of the Uchiha Clan. Mostly the women like cousin Mikoto. Who was _crazy_. What the hell had possessed Fugaku-sama to make that woman the future Uchiha Clan matriarch? Obito was still not quite sure how to respond to that. He had long since decided to put it out of his mind until they got Kakashi back.

Kakashi… oh, sweet Amaratsu. Obito did not want to think about Kakashi. He had been so proud to hear Kakashi had used Obito’s gift to protect Konoha… and absolutely horrified to learn that Kakashi had been forced to move back into the empty Hatake Clan compound to avoid threats from some of the more fanatical Uchiha Clan members. The Hatake Clan house had been closed up after Hatake Sakumo’s suicide, and Kakashi had been rabidly opposed to ever going back.

Fuck them. Obito had given that eye to Kakashi for a reason! How dare they try to separate Kakashi from Obito? The looks Obito had gotten when he had stormed into a Clan Elders meeting and ripped the shriveled up old windbags new assholes had been amusing. For a while, at least.

Obito just wanted to find Kakashi. It had killed something inside of him that Obito’s had not really known was there when he had woken up after saving Rin, after holding back the Sanbi while Sensei fixed the seal on Rin, and only then learned that Kakashi had never made it back. The reinforcements from Konoha had found the battleground, had found the bodies of the Mist squad that had taken Rin, but had seen no sign of Kakashi. Only blood soaked braches, and a scent trail that evaporated into nothing. That… that was not the way it was supposed to go. Everyone was supposed to stay _safe_. They were all supposed to _be here_ when Obito escaped.

Fuck. Now his eyes were burning again.

Obito did not know how much longer he could handle living here. It was all he could do to get through a day without punching his smug, stuck-up Clan-kin in their pretty little faces when he overheard them talking trash about Minato-sensei and Kakashi. On a _good_ day.

Obito was not having very many good days. In point of fact, Obito had punched a _lot_ of Uchiha Clan members in the face over the last few weeks.

/…/

“You want me to move in to Kakashi’s house… _why_ again?” Obito eyeballed his sensei-turned-Hokage like he was expecting a prank.

“Because I refuse to believe my student is dead until I have a body. Not for a second time. What happened to you, Obito… I can’t let it happen again.” Minato shook his head to dispel unpleasant thoughts. “Anyway, all of your things are there already. Ne? Just… take care of the place until we bring Kakashi home. For me? Please?”

“Oh, _kami_ , sensei. Don’t look at me like that. Fine. _Fine_ , okay? I’ll do it.” Obito huffed and crossed his arms, looking away to hide the giddy grin that wanted to take up room on his face. It occurred to Obito that it might just be possible to find Kakashi’s _baby pictures_. This was not an opportunity to be squandered.

/…/

**(Obito is the nail that sticks up and refuses to be pounded down. That causes the rumours ROOT plants about the Uchiha to undergo a few… unexpected changes.)**

It started as a whisper. An offhand comment made where people could overhear. A throwaway observation. Little jokes and sarcastic questions that stuck in the back of the mind.

What was it about the Uchiha Clan? The civilians loved them. They saw the Military Police as their protectors. The rest of the Shinobi tended to just barely tolerate them as a necessary evil even while getting thrown in the drunk tank for the day. Sure, they were one and all a bunch of cheating, spying, thieving bastards… but they were shinobi! It came with the profession.

The Uchiha were distinctive, and their eyes coveted. It was understandable that most of the Uchiha chose to stick close to home. Safety in numbers and all that. It was admirable that the Uchiha had avoided the trap of fear that was tearing apart the Hyuuga. The Uchiha Clan had needed to expand the Clan grounds again, making it less of a compound and more of a district. A small village within the Village. The Hyuuga had more and more houses standing empty with every successive generation. No one outside the Clan would marry into the Branch House. Not when it meant their children would become slaves.

How was it that the Senju, the other founding Clan of Konoha and great believers in the philosophy of ‘make love not war’ had all but died out? How was it that the Hyuuga, the Clan most similar to the Uchiha in beliefs and traditions and abilities were fading away? What did it say about the Uchiha that they continued to grow in numbers and strength? The Inuzuka, the Akamichi, the Auburame, the Nara, the Yamanaka… all Clans that had started small but had grown over the course of the generations following the Founding to stand on equal footing with the Hyuuga. Yet none of them, however much they had grown, not one could rival the Uchiha.

What was it about the Uchiha? What was the secret to their strength?

It started with a whisper, and it only grew from there.

=/=

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My September Ask 6/9, for amiko0413 who felt bad for little Kakashi and wanted to know what happened to him when he was with Zetsu and Madara and I just...
> 
> Why would you ask that? You know I'm only going to make it hurt worse now.

**Author's Note:**

> Oh, and I have my own ideas regarding Kakashi's below-average chakra levels, the Hatake Clan Bloodline Talent, and how those interact with Obito's gifted Sharingan. So hang onto your hats, my friends, and let's ride this crazy-train. ♥


End file.
